Bibliographic Information


Reynolds, J., & Kiely, B. (2015). All american boys. New York, NY: Anthem Books for Young Readers.

ISBN: 978-1-4814-6333-1

 

Plot Summary

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely is about two boys named Rashad and Quinn. One day their lives intersect when Rashad is assaulted by a police officer and Quinn witnesses it. It starts when Rashad accidently trips a white lady outside the corner store. According to the police officer, Rashad was trying to rob her.  Rashad tried to tell the officer what happened, but that only made it worst. The police officer than arrested and beat him for resisting arrest.  The thing is, Quinn saw what happened, but he didn’t speak up. He knows the officer, he grew up with the officer, and the officer is like a father to him. If the officer, known as Paul Galluzzo says that Rashad was trying to rob the lady and resist arrest, maybe it happened. Maybe Quinn saw it wrong. He tries to ignore what he saw, but soon what happens that day starts to consume the town. People want the truth and Quinn finds himself having to decide if he will come forward with what he saw. If he does come forward he will alienate his best friend, Paul his surrogate Dad, and even his mom. If he does comes forward he will save the innocent Rashad from jail and clear his name.

 

Critical Evaluation


All American Boys deals with complex issues about race and the teen/adult dynamic. I liked how the story alternated between Rashad and Quinn. I found Quinn’s sections heart breaking because of the emotional turmoil he was in. He knew what the right thing to do was and what he saw, but he couldn’t for the longest time bring himself to speak up. He kept thinking it would be handled and that the adults would figure out what really happened. I also found Rashad’s parts equally heartbreaking. He was this kind artsy young man who did nothing wrong. He was literally being punished for his skin color and I struggled reading many of those unjust scenes. The story sheds light on something that adults and teens should be talking about. There needs to be more open conversations on the topic racism. I also think that teens can take away a lot from this story, such as racism and that sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing you will have to do. I think that sometimes we find ourselves believing that racism doesn’t exist or that it doesn’t involve us. Rashad and Quinn were average teenagers and were both affected by racism in different ways. Rashad and Quinn represent different sides of racism today. Quinn had to learn that just because he ignored the racism around him that it did still exist.

 

Reader’s Annotation


Black teenager Rashad is accused of robbing a white lady and has been beaten and arrested for it. The only witness is Quinn who has to make a decision to speak up about what he saw or stay quite and let the adults handle it.

 

Author Information

The following information was taken from the author’s biography,

http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jason-Reynolds/403685768.

 

“Jason Reynolds is crazy. About stories. After earning a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where you can often find him walking the four blocks from the train to his apartment talking to himself. Well, not really talking to himself, but just repeating character names and plot lines he thought of on the train, over and over again, because he’s afraid he’ll forget it all before he gets home. Jason is the author of critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest, for which he was the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent; the Coretta Scott King Honor books Boy in the Black Suit and All American Boys (co-written with Brendan Kiely)”

 

The following information was taken from the author’s biography,

http://www.brendankiely.com/biography/.

 

“Brendan Kiely received an MFA in creative writing from The City College of New York.  His debut novel, The Gospel of Winter, has been published in ten languages, it was selected as one of American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 2015, and it was a Kirkus Reviews selection for best of 2014. He is the coauthor, with Jason Reynolds, of the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award winning All American Boys, and author of the forthcoming The Last True Love Story (McElderry Books/S&S, September 2016). Originally from the Boston area, he now lives with his wife in Greenwich Village. “

 

Genre

Fiction, Realistic, Contemporary,

 

Curriculum Ties


Could be used on a unit about racism and doing the right thing.

 

Booktalking Ideas


• Why do you think Quinn had such a hard time telling the truth?

• Who was your favorite character and why?

• Do you think Racism still exists? Explain?

• What can we do to avoid what happened to Rashad and Quinn?

• Compare and contrast To Kill A Mockingbird with All American Boys

 

Reading Level/ Interest Age


Grades 6-12

 

Challenge Issues


Violence, Racism

 

Challenge Issue Resources (for usage in a challenge situation)

• Active Listening

• Explanation of why it was chosen for the collection (Rational)

• Awards

• Reader Advisory Reviews (Students, Parents, Educators)

• Positive and Negative Reviews

• National Council of Teachers “Right to Read”

• ALA Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to Library Materials

• ALA Bill of Rights on Intellectual Freedom

• Library Selection Policy & Library District Reconsideration Form

 

Why I choose it

I choose to read this book because it was assigned reading for INFO265. I think it is a book that will bring up difficult conversations that should be happening between teens and adults.